Black Silk, Shelter Me
by gracklenaught
Summary: Throughout his century in the ocean Dio has been having strange dreams. They feel almost real, take place in Italy, and feature a boy with golden hair, and eyes the same hue as... Well, all dreams have to come to an end sometime and this one ends with a bang, as Dio finally breaches the waves once again, in a way he never could have dreamed of.


_"In the dark I rest,_  
 _unready for the light which dawns_  
 _day after day,_  
 _eager to be shared._  
 _Black silk, shelter me._  
 _I need_  
 _more of the night before I open_  
 _eyes and heart_  
 _to illumination. I must still_  
 _grow in the dark like a root_  
 _not ready, not ready at all."_

-Eye Mask, Denise Levertov

* * *

 **Chapter 1**

Another dream, as familiar as the last. You're sitting at a cafe table in Naples, Italy. Up above the full moon covers the city in a blanket of dream dust, leaving it resplendent. Below, there is an unfinished game of chess sitting on the table.

You stare at it, tracing back all your pieces and your opponent's, remembering just how you got there and just where you're going next. In the street horseless metal carriages pass by your table often, unhurried. They are as empty as the tables around you, the buildings, the cloudy sky above. This is a world of two, a world with no observers but the very stars.

But your opponent is not in his usual seat, strangely enough. The seat across from yours is empty, cold. Once you look up from the table though, it's simple enough to find him, leaning on the cafe's rail, studying you. Poised in such a way any other observer would be fooled into thinking he was relaxed, casual. But you can see it, there's tension on his shoulders.

"Are you just going to stare at me, or are we going to finish this game, boy?" you ask him, in an annoyed tone. But he doesn't return to the table, like you thought he might, instead just shaking his head, sending his golden braid through the air

"Not today," he says, still watching you, considering, calculating perhaps. A hint of something… melancholic in those familiar blue eyes of his

"Then?" you ask him again, impatient, eyes narrowing at his unreadable expression. Without a word he turns and jumps over the rail he was leaning on. On the other side he looks back at you over his shoulder

"Let's go for a walk,"he says and starts walking away without waiting for you.

With an unnoticeable huff you get up and follow. You do not hurry, your longer legs allowing you to catch up with him without having to rush. When you catch up to him he's turning onto a different street and he does not look at you

"You don't have much longer, Vampire," he tells you, looking out, past the street, past the city, towards something you can't see. His expression cold and stiff.

"What of it?" you aren't surprised, you don't have much sense in the waking world. How could you? Left with nothing but darkness, a body that isn't quite yours, and a skull. But here, some of your mind has been conserved and you know it has been over a century since you were plunged under the waves. You know your reserves have almost been spent.

"Are you still certain you're going to be found?" He asks like there's any doubt. A familiar question, in turn you give him a familiar answer

"I am. I will be found, and the world will be mine." he doesn't react to your declaration, merely watching you with the same expression "I, Dio, will be lifted from this watery grave. I, will live."

-x-

It is in the early morning light that the ocean looks best, you think as you untether your boat, the Sea Star. This early in the morning the port is still and empty, just how you like it. The sun is not out yet but the waves look just as lovely as a light specked swaying void as they do reflecting the blue of the sky.

The Sea Star, skims along the water like the dream you might be having if you didn't have to go visit the Florida Reef today. Among the salty air and starlight however you can't find yourself resenting the need to get up early today or any other day you had sailed this course.

As you approach the reef you start to hum a shanty one of your coworkers had started singing constantly, something about a mermaid. His voice would carry all across the lab like he himself was a drunken sailor, as he sang the song, it was almost enough to make you pull your hair out. But, though his singing was bad and you would never say you enjoyed the song, it was a catchy tune

 _"O the ocean's waves will roll_  
 _And the stormy winds will blow_  
 _While we poor sailors go skipping to the top_  
 _And the landlubbers lie down below, below, below…"_

-x-

There is no telling how long you spend in the grip of delusion and darkness. Trapped in this all encompassing nothingness, you have nothing but nonsensical dreams and hallucinations to keep you from losing yourself completely. The passage of time is insignificant, but even then you can tell it is longer than usual before you wake up in Italy again. But this is different, this is not a cafe in a town too new for you to know, no, this place is ancient.

Though you have never been here you still know, in your bones, that this is Italy. And looking around to see crumbling stone to either side of you and arches layered across from you past a dusty field covered in crumbling rooms, you start to suspect... You have seen models of this place, pictures, this is…

"...The Roman Colosseum?" you ask the empty air, but you're not surprised when you get a response

"Yes, I thought you might like to see it before your time ran out," he says but it doesn't sound right, you can tell that isn't true, this is personal.

"Why are we here?" the question is met with more silence, he won't tell you, you know. He has told you precious little about himself and he won't tell you any more now, you know. It is almost disappointing. You don't even know his name.

He lets the silence stretch into the air until it permeates your skin, even as you watch him, so you turn away and walk outwards to see just what lies outside. The sky is lighter than usual, the moon out of sight, beams coming from the horizon… Below is a city that is as new as Naples was, but with ancient buildings mixed in, a city existing both in your future and past. A curiosity you might never get the chance to understand…

"You would never stop, would you?" the boy asks and you answer him, just the same as before, the same as you answered him the first time, all those years ago.

"Never. Not for anything, it is my destiny to grind this world under my heel."

"Just like it did to you? ...Just like it did, to me?"

"..."

You turn your head to look at him, mouth twisted in a scowl, an single eyebrow raised.

"What do you know of me? Of the world? What do you know about suffering, child?" you're watching him as he shakes his head, almost dismissively.

He takes his time answering, not looking at you, stepping past you to look out over the city. He looks out over it to the sky, to whatever might be past it. The silence seeps into reality itself and the two of you are caught in the stillness until the sun starts to rise in earnest for the first time in a century. It does not burn here, but sting instead, you hiss, and finally he turns, just enough to look back at you, with a firm set to his lips, and a determined edge to his eyes

"I have seen enough suffering, Dio," he says and you are seared away.

-x-

You're moving the boat to different side of the reef when you see something strange… A glint of gold on a shoal glinting in the sunlight among the sand… More litter, you sigh but still start to pull your boat in closer, cursing this world that allows so much trash to fill its oceans. But as you get a better view you start to realize this isn't litter at all…

By the time you've gotten off your boat a feeling of dread has clogged your throat. As you drew closer you saw that the what was giving off the golden shine was in fact hair, slumped on the sand covering the face of someone lying on their stomach, unmoving… As you rush closer you also note that in one of the person's hands is an object white and round… a skull…? But you ignore it, instantly pressing your fingers to the man's throat, seeking a pulse, and finding one, weak. That alone is enough to loosen your clenched jaw. And you breathe a little easier as you look this person over for injuries.

When you pull your fingers away you notice a strange scar circling his neck. You don't see its end, covered by his hair, you think but it looks quite long… The second thing you notice, looking over his shoulder, down his back for wounds is a birthmark… a star on his shoulder? Just like yours… But that is all blown away by the third and final revelation.

You don't see any wounds on his back, though you do see the outline of his bones protruding through his skin. But you do see the strangest thing when you look down into the shallow water next to the shoal, you see, submerged, a fishtail, where there should have been legs.

* * *

 **A/N:** Hope you guys enjoyed this, I've had it on the back-burner for a bit so its a relief to finally get to post it! I'm still getting the second chapter sorted out but with summer break coming up it should not take as long as this chapter did, thanks for reading!

That shanty is just called _The Mermaid_ by the way.


End file.
